Los Angeles teachers go on strike…

Los Angeles teachers braved cold, drizzly weather Monday morning as they walked off the job in their first strike in 30 years to demand smaller class sizes, more support staff at schools and better pay.

Schools will be open but it’s unknown how many students will head to classes in the nation’s second-largest school system. Some will be joining their teachers on the picket line.

For those who go to school, the day is unlikely to follow routines as volunteers, an estimated 400 substitutes and 2,000 staffers from central and regional offices fill in for 31,000 teachers, nurses, librarians and counselors. At 10 schools, nonteaching employees will take part in a sympathy strike, which will create additional headaches as administrators struggle to manage such tasks as preparing and serving meals.

It was still dark when physical education teacher Lin Joy Hom rolled up about 6:15 a.m. to the gate that leads to the Marshall High School parking lot on Griffith Park Boulevard, with “UTLA strong” emblazoned in red letters on her car windows. Fellow P.E. teacher Orquida Labrador — Hom’s coworker and a 1987 Marshall alumnus — hurried to help her unload water bottles and doughnuts for the educators on the picket line….

Leaders of United Teachers Los Angeles have announced they are ready to return the bargaining table. They said they were waiting to hear from the school district but expected bargaining to resume Thursday and continue throughout the weekend.